Real Choir Research Paper

Lakeisha Berry
Mrs. Lang
English 101
26 September 2013
The Real Choir Life What is choir life all about? Well I can tell you that it is more than classical music and tuxedoes! Choir is a great group to join, and it is a great way to make friends and have fun. I know all of this because I sang in my church choir and high school choir for years, and with that experience I can tell you the truth about choir. However, many people have their own ideas about choir that are mostly untrue. They have various reasons of why they believe the many things that are untrue, but I’m here to clear the air. Most of our population believe that choir consists of, opera music, boring activities, and opera music; however, choir is actually full of excitement,
fun people, and a variety of music. People believe that choirs only sing opera and classical music. They believe this because it is portrayed that way in movies, TV shows, and etc. This statement is somewhat true because in choir there are times where we do learn classical music; we rarely sing opera music. Though, classical music is a very important factor in choir, we also learn and perform some popular songs and well-known tunes. In my senior year of high school, our choir performed “Where is the love?” by the Black Eyed Peas and “Runaway” by Bruno Mars. We also performed arrangements of “Mr.Grinch” and Charlie Brown’s theme song “Linus and Lucy”. Not only did my high school choir perfume popular music, others do as well. When we went to state, which is where we go to be evaluated and scored, we heard various music like “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Danny Boy”, and others. In addition to these songs, we would sing Christmas carols, old and new; we would also sing gospel music and multicultural music. Lastly, we do perform some classical music. They have sweet harmonies that will melt an audience; they are usually in different languages which is cool. We would also take some time to learn what the text means as well. Not only do choirs sing a variety of music, they are also very fun and exciting. Based on the belief that choirs only sing opera and classical music, many people assume that choir is boring.
Most people aren’t a fan of classical music, and usually classical music is associated with the word boring. So, it is typical that people believe that choir is boring based on their assumptions. This could be true for people that just have no interest in music and singing at all. However, if you do like music and singing then you will find enjoyment in choir. Choir isn’t all about hard work and learning classical music all the time. We would have tons of fun. Honestly, out of all my years of choir, I have had an amazing time. My choir director was quite the comedian. He kept us engaged with his jokes and funny comments even when we didn’t do the best that day. He would draw these poorly drawn pictures on the board to demonstrate various techniques, and I must admit they were hilarious to all of us. We would also play a game where we would sight read popular music and guess what song it is. We sight read songs by Brittney Spears, Michael Jackson, and the Flintstone Theme song. We also took trips as a choir. We have been to Chicago, New York, Georgia to not only share our music with the other choirs and judges but to have extreme amounts of fun. We would go to places where we could play games, go to six flags, go to parks and museums, etc. Choir made my high school years the absolute best. Choir involves a variety of music and fun activities, but we also have amazing people that
join. Since many people assume that choir is all about boring music and boring activities, they also assume that choir consists of strange people. Most people would think that since choir is boring that it must be filled with boring, strange people. This has to be the most untrue misconception there is about choir. Choirs our full of many different types of wonderful people. In my old high school choir, we had many athletes, theater students, dancers, cheerleaders, artists, and more. There was this girl named Joylin, and she would come in every Friday in her cheerleading uniform to support our Football team. She was very hyper and funny. Devin, one of the starting football players, would always walk in with his sport bag and he would leave it in the choir room until his practice after school. He was a very handsome guy with a singing voice that was amazing. He would sing songs by usher during a break and just amaze everyone with his talent. There also was this guy named Terry. He was very short, but he was full of life and happiness. He was the life of the party in choir. I had a close friend in choir named John who could play any song on the piano blindfolded. He was so talented that I worked so hard to play the piano as well as he played. I am still to this day learning and perfecting my techniques to be like him. Now I hope you see how choirs our full of talent, fun, and lots of music. I am not trying to recruit anyone to join a choir here at South Alabama. However, I am trying to clarify some assumptions people make about choir. Choirs are actually fun and full of excitement. We have different types of people that join together for the purpose of enjoying and singing great music. It is just like any sport or extracurricular activity. We work hard as a team, have fun, compete with others, and most importantly come together and celebrate. So, next time you talk about choir or give your opinion about it, please use this information to help you form a better understanding of choir.